Father does odd job, teenage daughter pays off with bronze at Asian Youth Athletics Championships

It was a proud moment for Jagat Bhadana, an ambulance driver from a village near Faridabad bordering New Delhi in Haryana, as his teenage daughter won a bronze medal in a 5km race walk at the fifth Asian Youth Athletics Championships in Tashkent on Thursday, April 27.

Aarti, a promising school-going athlete, clocked 24 minutes 29.14 seconds to clinch a bronze medal in the girls' 5km racewalk event. China’s Yang Xizhen won the gold medal with a time of 22 minutes 32.61 seconds, while compatriot Liu Biling won silver with a time of 22 minutes 56.30 seconds.

Aarti was among the 38 member national team, including 16 girls selected for the Asian Youth Athletics Championships that got underway in Uzbekistan on Thursday.

“With meager financial resources at my disposal, it is a challenging task for me to support my daughter’s passion for athletics,” the father told Sportskeeda over the phone from Faridabad.

The father of four siblings works with a local hospital in Faridabad as an ambulance driver and earns less than Rs 20,000 per month. While Aarti is the youngest of the four, the other three are also studying and are yet to contribute to the family's monthly income.

While father has been working hard, Aarti paid back with a good performance in Tashkent.

On arrival in Uzbekistan on Tuesday (April 25), Aarti was quick to adapt to local weather conditions and food.

“Tashkent was my first international event. I’m not used to continental food, but I managed,” Aarti told Sportskeeda from Tashkent. “I have some dry fruits in my luggage to supplement my diet on tour.”

It has been over 12 months since Aarti's father sent her to Rohtak in Haryana for practice. Aarti stays in a rented accommodation with her elder sister, who is also a national level athlete, and cooks her own meals.

“I am elated that she (Aarti) won a bronze medal on her debut at the International,” Aarti’s father added.

According to the enthusiastic father, he has to do odd jobs when he has time so that his school-going daughter is able to excel in sports.

“She (Aarti) has successfully cleared her class 11th examination this year from a government school in Pali, a village near Faridabad. She has now won a bronze medal at the Asian Athletics Championships. It is good for the family,” the father said.

Aarti’s next goal is to fine tune her race walking technique. On her way to winning the bronze medal, she lost contact with the ground and the judges warned her thrice and imposed a 30 second penalty as per the rules of the competition.

“Competition in Tashkent was a big learning lesson for me,” Aarti added.

The Indian team overall won four medals, one of them gold in the boys 1500m through Priyanshu on the opening day of the competition. Rahul (silver in 1500m) and Mubassina Mohammed (bronze in long jump) were the other two medal winners on Thursday.